1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices and systems for artificually relieving pressure from a nursing mother's breast and for retrieving a milk supply to be used when the mother is not available for breast feeding. The present invention is particularly directed towards human milk recovery devices designed for the nursing mother to use by herself.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention is offered as an improvement over past art patented devices seen in the following patents:
Early human milk recovery methods and equipment includes the Gray and Gassin "Breast-Pumps" using a pliable bulb as a suction device. The patent is U.S. Pat. No. 155,720 and is dated Oct. 6, 1874. Then comes U.S. Pat. No. 361,910, dated Apr. 26, 1887, issued to A. B. Tutton, also a breast pump with a manually operated bulb pump. And the bulb pump action is seen again in U.S. Pat. No. 420,195, Graves and Hyer, Jan. 28, 1890. The pliable bulb pump is again seen in U.S. Pat. No. 684,078, W. H. Martin, issued Oct. 3, 1901.
Use of a replaceable bottle with measuring indicator marks is seen on July 16, 1940, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,208,089, granted to Grolman. The bulb pump is still in use on the device. A vacuum bottle is shown in Offenlegungsschrift No. 2208875, H. Marx, dated Sept. 6, 1973. The bulb action is again used to create the vacuum.
A suction tube wherein the mother regulates the pressure by drawing on a mouth piece is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,363, dated June 12, 1973, and granted to Lunas et al. A standard baby bottle can be used and the saliva trap is structured into the cap. And in a later patent issued to Adams, U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,912, dated Apr. 28, 1981, a return to the squeeze bulb is seen in an elabertly structured device.
Patents seen as a part of the developing art of the human breast pump seem not to adequately cover the need for a simple, safe and sanitary device which will not cause discomfort to the user-mother. The present invention, therefor, is presented to fulfill that need.